Problems with sharpness Nikon D5300

Thanks for reporting back, Georgina. The images sound like you're getting most of the frame size, so I think we can rule resolution settings out of the equation. The results can be a little smaller and vary a bit if the program is compensating for lens distortions (the result of fixing the distortion isn't rectangular, so you get subset of the pixels that actually gives you a rectangle).

Very small apertures like f/16 tends to introduce diffraction, so that might make the image look a bit soft, especially if you're not compensating digitally. At very large apertures, several lens aberrations become more visible, so you're more likely to see softness - the "best" aperture for sharpness is usually somewhere between f/4 and f/11 depending on the lens (and which bit of the image we're talking about), but obviously there's a creative aspect and depth of field to consider. Diffraction is a relatively minor effect most of the time, so if you're trying to get your foreground and background in focus at the same time, a small aperture is the way to do it [disclaimer, hand wave, focus stacking, tilt-shift lens...]

For what it's worth, your shutter speeds are fast enough that I'd be surprised if vibration was a problem. I'll be interested to know whether you can get "good" sharpness with my suggested live view manual focus experiment.

Good luck!

Humm, both shots in California taken at 18mm. Not a 35mm prime lens then!

Maybe an 18-55mm kit lens? Depending which version it is, some have sharpness problems wide open at the wide end, esp. the edges.

If you are shooting JPG, make sure that you set both the largest size and the highest quality. Those two settings are separate.

If you crop and correct exposure, I suggest you do so on a Raw image in something like View NX-2 or Capture NX-D first (I mention those because they're Nikon specific and free, though others may also work), then save the JPG, Those operations will be done before converting to JPG. You can exposure correct a Raw image with no loss, and you can return to the original, or do it again, with no loss. If you crop or otherwise alter a JPG and resave it, there may be a second round of JPG compression applied, and a little added degradation of the image, and the operations cannot be undone.

GB

Your camera has many autofocus options.

There really is no "one size fits all."

What works for one person, may not work for YOU and your specific situation, but it may work in a different situation.

Sit down with the manual and camera and go through the different options, take notes, then go out and experiment with the different options to see how they work in real life. The more you experiment, the more you learn. Then, YOU can select which mode to use for what situations.

This is the same as exposure mode; matrix, center weight, and spot.

With all the marketing, you think matrix is the magic do-all wonder method ... WRONG. I've had serious bad exposures with matrix, because the particular scene exceeded what matrix was programmed to handle. So the brain has to kick in and select one of the other modes or manual.

This is a lot to take in.

Yep. My advice: don't always use the same settings. Learn by experimentation what each setting does, so you can choose the right settings for every situation yourself.

Take an afternoon or three to just experiment with different settings and get a feel for the effects they have. Have your phone or tablet next to you with the camera manual open so you can see what Nikon thinks you should know about each setting as you play with it. But use experimentation to see for yourself.

EDIT: I just repeated what Gary said before me.

I guess I'd just moderate what Gary and Chulkim said:

First, find something that works, even if it doesn't work very well.

Then, modify one thing at a time and get familiar with the changes.

It's easy to tick off five things that look like they'll help, and then spend a long time discovering that you're trying to fix the wrong problem.

(But seriously, my "manual focus in live view on a tripod" argument for getting sharp images should work for diagnosing problems. It rules out as many things as possible that could be going wrong. It's obviously painful and impractical in many situations, but you can worry about those when you know you don't have a broken lens.)

What cameras do is pretty basic. In the right conditions (static subject, good light, depth of field not an issue, etc.) anything can take a decent image - including your phone. All the bells and whistles on a modern camera are there to get a high quality image when the conditions are less than perfect. A modern camera is very good at it, but it still needs some guidance, and there are still limits. Have fun experimenting!

I agree with Andrew. If you are not careful you can overload yourself.

So take it easy and make sure you understand one mode before going to the next. So it takes you a few weeks to do that, so what.

BTW, sometimes you need the right situation/environment to see how a particular mode works.

Example1, it can be difficult to see how shutter priority works in the park, where there is very little action and the light is static.

Example2, you can see it working when you follow a kid from sunlight to shade to sunlight again.